Writings, observations and ideas either caused by or meant to induce a minor disruption.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Just Below

I thought of those geological pictures in the dinosaur books I read as a kid, where the different periods of natural history were pictured like bands, layered on top of each, Neolithic, Paleolithic, Jurassic, etc. The pile of strata, all a different rank, a distinct time, yet those borderlines distinguishing each were obviously times of overlap. The geological record blends, just like social history. Do the stratum beneath the city blend? Here are the upper strata, the asphalt ripped open, what looks like water pipes, still a good distance above subway tunnels, even sewers – one always envisions catacombs like in Batman comic books. How much higher above the actual bedrock of the city founded here do we drive and walk?